In order to achieve an extremely thin phone, Apple is set to make some heavy compromises with the iPhone 17 Slim.
Apple is Really Pushing the Envelope When it Comes to Making the iPhone 17 Slim Ultra-Thin
One thing is clear about the iPhone 17 Slim, it’s going to be thin. According to the latest report from The Information, the current Slim prototypes are between 6mm and 5mm thin.
That’s very, very thin.
In order to achieve that thinness, Apple is going to make some sacrifices. One of those sacrifices is the use of a single speaker, which is going to be the earpiece.
Apple is not going to add a second speaker at the bottom of the phone due to lack of space inside.
Another compromise is the lack of mmWave 5G. This is due to the fact that the iPhone 17 Slim is going to utilize Apple’s in-house 5G modem and it’s not capable of mmWave 5G, unlike Qualcomm modems Apple is using in the current Pro models.
Since the iPhone 17 Slim is said to be extremely slim, Apple may not ship it with a physical SIM card slot. While this change may not matter at all if you live in a region where every carrier supports eSIM, it’s a problem if you want to sell a phone in China, where having a physical SIM card slot is a strict requirement.
In other words, the Slim model is so thin that Apple is struggling to fit a SIM card slot. But eventually, it may just figure something out.
Another thing Apple is working hard on is the ability to fit a battery and thermal system inside the new iPhone. This is absolutely crazy, to be honest. Apple really wants to push the envelope when it comes to fitting so much tech inside a small space.
Something which we’ve already heard before – the Slim model will feature a single camera at the back, which will handle all our photography and video needs.
Previous report suggests that the iPhone 17 Slim will feature a 6.6-inch display. Instead of using the A19 Pro, Apple may utilize the A19 chip instead, which makes sense since it will offer better thermal performance in such a thin chassis.
It’s wild the amount of effort Apple is putting into releasing an extremely thin iPhone. The company literally has a choice to do the opposite and pack a ton of technology and dial things up to 11 by shipping a thicker phone. It goes to show how important this is for Apple.
It almost feels like if Jony Ive were back at Apple for this iPhone.
